PRESIDENT BUSH: Your Eminence, welcome back to the Oval Office. This
is the second opportunity I've had to meet with one of the distinguished
leaders of a free Iraq. This is a man whose family suffered
unbelievable violence at the hands of the dictator, Saddam Hussein. He
lost nearly 60 family members, and yet rather than being bitter, he's
involved with helping the new government succeed.

We talked about a lot of important issues. I appreciate so very much
His Eminence's commitment to a unity government. I assured him the
United States supports his work and the work of the Prime Minister to
unify the country. Part of unifying Iraq is for the elected leaders and
society leaders to reject the extremists that are trying to stop the
advance of this young democracy. I appreciated very much His Eminence's
strong position against the murder of innocent life.

We talked about the need to give the government of Iraq more capability,
as quickly as possible, so that the elected government of Iraq can do
that which the Iraqi people want, which is to secure their country from
the extremists and murderers. I told His Eminence that I was proud of
the courage of the Iraqi people. I told him that we're not satisfied
with the pace of progress in Iraq, and that we want to continue to work
with the sovereign government of Iraq to accomplish our mutual
objectives, which is a free country that can govern itself, sustain
itself, and defend itself; a free country which will serve as an ally in
the war against the extremists and radicals and terrorists.

So, Your Eminence, welcome back. Thank you for the very constructive
conversation we had.

SCIRI LEADER HAKIM: In the name of God, the merciful, the passionate,
and blessing upon Prophet Mohammed and his purified family and his loyal
companions. My meeting with President Bush today emerges from our
shared commitment to continue dialogue and consultation among us and
also on the basis of our conviction that the Iraqi issue is a mutual
interest. It's an issue that requires coordination between the two
sides in a way that concerns both of us politically and from a security
point of view and economic point of view, as well.

Therefore, our conversation today focused on ways to advance the work of
the Iraqi government, the elected government, as well as to advance the
whole situation in Iraq and move it forward. Also, we have discussed
ways in order to provide all the necessities that the Iraqi armed forces
will need, in terms of armament, in terms of trainings, in order to be
in a position to assume the security file.

The Iraqi situation has been subjected to a great deal of defamation,
and the true picture is not being presented in order to show a dark side
of what's happening in Iraq. We see the attempts to defame and distort
the situation in Iraq not taking into consideration the democratic steps
that that country has taken, writing the constitution and establishing a
state that depends heavily on the constitution, that it is unified and
that it is strong. There are attempts to show the sectarian strife in
an attempt to weaken the position in Iraq.

The U.S. interests, the Iraqi interests, the regional interests, they
are all linked. Therefore, it is very important when we deal with this
issue, we look at the interests of the Iraqi people. If we don't, this
whole issue could backfire and could harm the interests of the region,
the United States, and Iraq, as well.

Therefore, we believe that the Iraqi issue should be solved by the
Iraqis with the help of friends everywhere. But we reject any attempts
to have a regional or international role in solving the Iraqi issue. We
cannot bypass the political process. Iraq should be in a position to
solve Iraqi problems. We welcome any effort that could enhance the
democratic reality in Iraq and protect the constitutional role of that
state.

We have gone a long way to establish a democratic and pluralistic
society in Iraq. We have given a great deal of sacrifice to achieving
the objective. We cherish all the sacrifices that took place for the
liberation and the freedom of Iraq, sacrifices by the Iraqi people, as
well as friendly nations, and on top of that list, sacrifices by the
Americans. We have now an elected government in Iraq, a government that
is so determined to combat both violence and terror, a government that
it is -- strongly believes in the unity of that government and of that
country and the society, a government that deals and will deal with all
the sources of terrorism regardless where they come from.

We will work very hard and seek all forms of cooperation at the
international level and the regional level in order to defeat terrorism
that it is trying to use Iraq as a base in order to sabotage the future
of that nation.

Thank you very much, Mr. President, for allowing me this opportunity to
meet with you. I would like to take this opportunity also to thank the
American people and their sympathy toward Iraq, those who helped Iraq to
get rid of a brutal dictatorship and to enjoy freedom and liberties.